Chores

Okay, God, you got my attention. Now let me see if I can articulate it clearly.

God often uses my kids' good & bad behaviors to teach me about how I treat Him. Today I had one of those lessons.

I told my 7 year old son that he needed to do his chores before he could do the "fun" thing he was asking to do. He immediately started trying to get out of it. "But, Mom, you always let me do ______ without doing my chores." Me: "No, you need to do you chores." Him as he walked down the hallway: "Em, Mom says we have to do our chores. That makes me so frustrated!"

Nothing gets me irritated quite as fast as one of my kids complaining about their chores and how hard they are and how they wish the didn't have to do them. Immediatlely it makes me angry because I start thinking of how much I have to do for them (the cooking, the cleaning, the shopping, making lunches, preparing dinner, paying bills, etc.), and how ungrateful they are acting by 1) not recognizing all I do for them and 2) acting like doing physical labor is a punishment rather than a responsibility of being in this family. This has happened many times and it usually ends with me reminding them of all the chores I do everyday for them and how if I didn't do them they wouldn't have food, clean clothes, a clean house, etc. They get the point for a day or two and then the complaining cycle (by both of us) starts all over again.

So the God lesson for me? I do this exact same thing to God... regularly. He tells me to do something that I know I need to do (there are lots of "godly" examples for this, but for me personally, it's not to be idle. Being a stay-at-home mom is not an excuse to be lazy... but some days I treat it as a reason for idleness. After all, I've worked so hard on keeping the house in order, don't I deserve a day off???)

So when God reminds me of something I need to do - from the "godly" spending time with him daily in His word and in prayer to the "daily grind" of keeping a house that my family looks forward to coming home to - what do I do? I complain: "But God, I did all that yesterday! Do I really have to do it again? But God, no one cares if the house is clean - if they did, they'd help keep it that way. But God, I prayed for _________ yesterday. You know what I need, do I really need to talk to you about it again? But God, I'll hear from you on Sunday, I don't want to right now. I'd rather _______________."

To which God responds: "Child, I said _________."

So then I go whining down the spiritual hallway trying to tell everyone else what God is telling them to do. Have you ever wondered why sometimes your spiritual "advice" falls on deaf ears? I think sometimes it's because God was telling you what to do. Not your neighbor or your kids or your spouse, but you. I'm not saying that He never gives us something that we are to share with others, but I wonder how much of what we try to convince others to do is because God told us to do it, and we want company in our spiritual missery.

I started wondering about God's side of the conversation that I can't hear. Afterall, my kids can tell from the tone of my voice that I'm irritated with them, but do they really understand why? They can't hear the complaints that I shout in my head but never out loud. What is God saying silently that I'll never hear?

I wonder if, as He looks down on me He's saying, "Child, what I ask of you is easy. I will guide you and help you along the way. Don't you see all I've done for you? I make the sun to rise in the morning and set the moon in it's place at night. I bring the seasons, the rains, the winds, the tempests at sea. I shield you from harm and bring you peace in troubled times. I've brought you life and breath. The babe you hold in your arms is a gift from me. The husband by your side was created by me just for you. I've placed you where you are for such a time as this. Why, then, are you ungrateful? Why do you not thank me for all I've done? Why, instead of saying, 'Yes, Father,' do you complain about your small task? Is it really so hard? Is it really impossible? Am I not with you always, to the very end of the age? Don't you know, nothing is impossible for me? Obedience, child. That is all I ask of you."

I heard you, Father.